From the archivist
It started with a game that needed a few authentic AIM icons. Then I had 1,000. Then 10,000. At some point, I had a buddy icon problem.
Read how this happenedYou made it this far
You have scrolled past 1,024 buddy icons, so I have some suspicions. My blog is where the other shiny digressions end up.
Subscribe to Shedletsky.comA language of tiny pictures
A picture barely 50 pixels wide, sitting beside an AIM screen name, could announce a mood, a fandom, an inside joke, or who someone wanted to be that day.
Read the short historyRecovered from the early web
Buddy icons survive in old directories, fan sites, downloadable packs, and web archives. The archive preserves the original files, groups known copies, and records where each one was found.
How the archive worksConcentric Rings are visuals built from two or more circles sharing one center, with nested bands forming layered rhythm. Centered symbols or rotating ring orientation are useful for distinguishing these from single-ring or plain circular badges.
![Four identical circular icons with red concentric rings and blue text reading "Dylan & Brooke's Icon! :]" arranged in a](/image/34e070674ef6348f359214996b2e242fc1042b16f5461e049960c7ba1dbe6809){kind=small}
![Four identical circular icons with pink concentric rings on black background, each containing white text "Dezzy", "& &", "Nana", and "[[BF4L]]".](/image/49df5b8862c11f9d7d4cc4e17ffcd684acabb23148fec474ead6d98de7cb2214){kind=small}
![Four identical circular icons with green concentric rings on a red background, each containing white text reading 'im italian be jealous .]' in pixelated font.](/image/4cd5e9553c03f62f220bb059c6fb4ed147025fdf8d95fcd8df8955d7988f0880){kind=small}
